Skip to main content

Prove Me Wrong: International Women's Day Activity



As March is the time when women are celebrated, you can run one or several of these across this month:

  1. Women and work: myths vs reality

  2. Media images of women: who decides what we see?

  3. Invisible work, invisible power: unpaid care and housework

  4. Everyday sexism: is it still a problem?

  5. Men as allies: what is their role on Women's Day?


What I would like to suggest, though, is a more structured activity that involves plenty of speaking, namely:

Provocative Statements for "Prove Me Wrong"

(or a version of the popular meme CHANGE MY MIND- see picture above;)

How can you go about it?

- Why don’t you try this Lesson Procedure:

1. Warm-up (5 minutes)

  1. Quick whole-class question: "What comes to your mind when you hear 'International Women's Day'?"

  2. Collect 5–6 key words on the board (rights, equality, flowers, protests, respect, etc.)

2. Group Work (10–15 minutes)

  1. Put students in groups of 3–4

  2. Give each group one statement (or let them draw one)

  3. They discuss and prepare their "prove me wrong" arguments and their improved version of the statement

3. Mini-Presentations (10–15 minutes)

  1. Each group presents for 1–2 minutes

  2. After each presentation, allow one short question or challenge from another group: "Can you give another example?" or "Is this true for all countries?"

4. Reflection (5 minutes)

  1. Students individually finish the sentence: "One idea about women and gender I see differently after this activity is..."

  2. Optional: collect anonymous answers and read a few aloud


Statement ideas:


Set A – Stereotypes and Roles

  1. "In most families, women naturally take care of the home better than men."

  2. "Men are better leaders; women are better helpers."

  3. "Feminism is no longer necessary in the 21st century."

  4. "If a woman is successful, it's mainly because someone 'helped' her."

Set B – Work and Pay

  1. "The gender pay gap is exaggerated by the media."

  2. "Women choose lower-paid jobs, so it's normal they earn less."

  3. "If women wanted to be in STEM, they would just apply."

  4. "It's easier for women to get promoted now than for men."

Set C – Daily Life and Media

  1. "Sexist jokes are harmless fun; people should stop overreacting."

  2. "Social media gives women complete control over their image."

  3. "If a woman posts photos online, she must accept any comments."

  4. "Fashion and beauty standards are the same pressure for men and women."


Student Task Sheet: 


Task: Prove Me Wrong – International Women's Day

  1. In your group, you will receive one statement about women, men or gender roles.

  2. Step 1: Decide if you agree, disagree, or think "it depends".

  3. Step 2: Your main job is to prove the statement wrong or show why it is too simple.

  4. Use:

    1. examples from real life or your country

    2. things you have seen online or in the news

    3. data or facts you know (even approximate)

    4. personal experiences or stories (if you feel comfortable)

  5. Prepare a short mini-speech (about 1–2 minutes) where one or two people from your group explain:

    1. what the statement says

    2. why it is wrong / incomplete

    3. what a more accurate, fair statement would be

  6. While you listen to other groups, take notes: one argument you agree with and one question you would like to ask


Extra Teacher Notes: 

Classroom management tip: Establish ground rules before starting – respectful disagreement, no personal attacks, challenge ideas not people.

Sensitive topics: Be prepared for students who may share personal experiences with discrimination. Have a plan for how to acknowledge these respectfully while keeping the discussion focused on language practice.

Cultural context: Some statements may resonate differently depending on your students' cultural backgrounds. This is valuable – encourage students to compare perspectives across cultures.


Just a side note, hope you don’t mind......

If you like my content, maybe you would like to support me and buy me coffee?

Also, you might want to check other materials I create for the English Bilingual Secondary Classes (C1) - I am sure some of them will be useful for the English B HL classes, for example BritSpeak or OpenBookCouples. 

Check out the shop at dwujezycznie.pl









Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

HONY, honey:)

  There is a book, fb page, lots of articles, videos, interviews, lesson ideas on HONY- Humans of New York, and now there is also my extensive lesson plan-... Never heard of it? Humans of New York (HONY) is a popular photography project and storytelling  blog created in 2010 by Brandon Stanton. It started as a simple goal to photograph  10,000 people living in New York City, but evolved into a powerful collection of  portraits and personal stories. Each photo is paired with a short interview or quote  that reveals intimate, honest, and often surprising details about the subject's life. Over time, the project expanded beyond New York to include stories from many countries, covering diverse experiences and social issues. HONY offers a unique window into the lives of everyday people, encouraging empathy and understanding through storytelling. Interested? Check out  this handout    for reading, listening, writing and speaking ideas. Just a side note, ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Have yourself a "less-is-more" Christmas....

Every year, the same film plays on repeat. Black Friday hits, and people who swore they were “cutting back this year” are suddenly refreshing carts at midnight, chasing countdown timers and “only 3 left!” banners. This was the starting point for my minimalism lesson: if students are already swimming in Black Friday ads and Christmas wish lists, why not turn that chaos into something reflective and language‑rich?  The heart of the plan is a “Less Is More” advent calendar that runs parallel to the shopping season. While the outside world shouts “Buy! Hurry! More!”, students open a different kind of window each day: deleting unused apps, clearing one surface, designing an experience gift instead of buying another object. Each task comes with a guided question and a pair of chunky expressions to use in a short English reflection, so language development and behaviour change grow together. In  this handout  Black Friday and Christmas haven’t disappeared, but the spell is weake...
1 comment
Read more

SPEECH STATIONS

I have been looking for a way to spice up a bit the class I give in DP1 as introduction to speeches- both oral and written (paper 1). Then it dawned on me- why not get the students move and learn about the structure, language, rhetorical appeals rotating the stations in pairs?  I tried and it worked very well- have a look at   the stations  and the sample answers:) . The class is designed for 5 stations, but there is also an optional one on extra linguistic features- I’ve put them in my google disc as pdfs, but you can also create QR codes for them so that you don’t need to print the activities.  As for the class itself, you can ask students to compete against each other in their pairs, and check their worksheets yourself, or allow them accces to the sample key to encourage self-assessment or peer-assessment.  What needs to be done at the end is a wrap-up session on the text type that speech is- one idea might be ask students to elaborate on the titles of each s...
Post a Comment
Read more